(November 28, Damascus) -- Damascus University President Dr. Mohammad Amer Al-Mardini discussed with Armenian Ambassador to Damascus Dr. Arshak Boladian and Armenian Orthodox Archbishop of Damascus and its dependencies Armash Nalbandian today the mechanisms of cooperation to start teaching the Armenian language through the Language Institute in preparation for the opening of a department to teach it at the university. During the meeting, Dr. Al-Mardini pointed out the keenness of Damascus University to follow up the issues of the culturally and intellectually diverse Syrian society and the interest in teaching various languages, especially Armenian, pointing to the efforts made to start teaching this language "as soon as possible" through courses at the Institute of Languages in preparation for moving in the next academic year to create a department for teaching it in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities after the availability of the conditions for this and identifying and building capacities. The university president pointed out the importance of teaching the Armenian language at Damascus University to increase communication with the Armenian culture, especially with the presence of large numbers of Syrians of Armenian origin, in addition to allowing interested people to learn about it, which contributes to the development of cultural relations between the two countries. For his part, the Armenian Ambassador affirmed the interest and support of the Armenian side for teaching the Armenian language at Damascus University and making every effort to provide the ingredients for the success of this initiative by providing it with books, curricula and the possibility of cooperation with Armenian universities in this field in order to contribute to the consolidation and strengthening of relations between the two countries, especially cultural ones, pointing to the availability of ready-made educational curricula that the embassy is looking for ways to import "soon to be accessible to the university to start teaching the language." For his part, Bishop Nalbandian considered that the establishment of an Armenian language department at Damascus University reflects the diversity and richness of the Syrian identity and constitutes a bridge to consolidate Armenian-Syrian relations in the field of education and cultural exchange, stressing "the support of the diocese for this initiative and its materialization on the ground" out of humanitarian and national duty to present the true image of Syria. In turn, the Director of the Institute of Languages at Damascus University, Dr. Maysa Al-Sayoufi, confirmed "the readiness of the infrastructure" such as halls, laboratory and internet to start the courses upon the arrival of the curricula, especially after developing a vision for the nature, duration, level and expansion of these courses. The meeting discussed ways to identify competencies locally and abroad to contribute to the teaching of the Armenian language and capacity building at the level of teaching it, whether through delegations to some universities in Armenia or appointing teaching assistants from Armenian students to work on a master's degree in preparation for their appointment as faculty members in the Armenian language department planned in cooperation with the Embassy and the Armenian Metropolitanate in Damascus and universities and educational entities in Armenia. They stressed the need to evaluate the preparatory phase of the courses to study the extent of the demand for them, especially that there is work to attract about 50 students as a first step, with continued coordination and cooperation between the two sides to provide the elements of teaching this language. The meeting was attended by the Secretary of Damascus University, Treasurer and Directors of International and Cultural Relations at the university, Dr. Nora Arisian and Dikran Kevorkian, Counselor at the Armenian Embassy in Damascus.